Construction, crash congest traffic on I-95

HAMPDEN – Road construction and gawkers contributed more to a traffic slowdown Friday morning on northbound Interstate 95 than did a minor accident, a Maine state trooper said.

Traffic just south of the Cold Brook Road slowed to a crawl after a pickup truck was struck from behind at about 11:15 a.m., Trooper Darren Vittum said Friday afternoon. Construction closed one of the northbound lanes between mile markers 179 and 181.

By early afternoon, both lanes were open to northbound traffic, according to the trooper.

The accident was caused when Charles Theriault, 21, of Clinton, Mass., driving a 1991 Subaru station wagon, struck from behind a 1999 Chevy pickup truck driven by Keith Levasseur, 20, of Belgrade. Marilou LaChance, 44, of Belgrade, a passenger in the pickup, was transported to Eastern Maine Medical Center complaining of neck pain, Vittum said.

An EMMC representative said late Friday afternoon that she had no information on LaChance.

The trooper estimated damage to each vehicle at about $1,000. He also said that both vehicles were driven from the scene.

“Construction was responsible for about 90 percent of the slowdown,” Vittum said.

On Tuesday, construction on I-95 in Bangor is expected to shut down one northbound and southbound lane between Broadway and the Hogan Road exits, the Maine Department of Transportation announced last month.

The work on the deteriorating concrete on the Stillwater Avenue overpass is expected to take six weeks, Jerry Waldo, a spokesman for the DOT said.